My word for 2025…
For the last couple of years I've chosen a single word as my intention for the upcoming year. When you set an intention, you put out a powerful invitation for the universe to support your vision. Intentions are different from goals. Niki Dewart says, "goals are related to a future outcome and reflect a way of doing, and intentions are related to inner values and reflect a way of BEING."
My word this year sounds pretty unsexy, but it's truly what my nervous system has been craving.
Drum roll please.....
My word for 2025 is ORDER.
Order is organization, structure, systems, and sequence. It's actually a very Ayurvedic word, because Ayurveda is the embodied wisdom of rhythms (another word you will hear me say a lot, and very much related to order).
Your body and mind thrive with rhythm....in other words....ORDER. When you have rhythms, routines and order in your life, your body and mind can work together more harmoniously. When there is order to your days and nights (structure, consistency) you can move through life a lot more relaxed. It's pretty amazing how waking up at the same time, going to bed at the same time, and eating meals at the same time can benefit your overall well being.
In order for anything to manifest, there must be organization. Think of the miraculous process of a baby being conceived: One egg and one sperm merge together, which makes a single cell. That single cell multiples and multiples and multiples, eventually because a fully developed fetus. There is a very intelligent and intentional order to creating a human life.
Now don't get me wrong...I DO have order in my life. I wouldn't be able to teach Ayurveda if I didn't! Ayurveda showed me the importance of order, and how much more smoothly things can flow when there are systems in place. These are things like scraping my tongue daily, doing abhyanga (self oil massage) weekly, and seasonal cleanses during the spring and fall. Creating rhythm has brought me so much more order, but there are still some things that I can improve on.
A friend recently shared this wisdom with me: A flowing river needs river banks!....aka STRUCTURE!
Now, I am really good at flowing! I have a lot of VATA (the energy of movement, creativity, adaptability). I can be spontaneous, fluid and come up with a million ideas. Having more ORDER (stronger river banks!) will just make the flow more sustainable and productive.
Just as our diets and lifestyles are bio-individual, so are our intentions for how we want to show up in the world.
ORDER probably wouldn't be such a great word for someone who is ridge or obsessive. And FLOW probably wouldn't be supportive to someone that was feeling scattered and ungrounded.
Get real clear and honest about what you need. One of my teachers, Dr. Siva Mohan, says the first step is always checking in with yourself....asking yourself, "how do I feel? What do I need?"
The brilliant simplicity of Ayurveda is to bring in the opposite of what imbalances you are experiencing.
If you are intrigued by this way of creating an intention, and live in the area, check out Sacred Rhythm and Ritual - A New Year's Eve Event,on Tuesday, 12/31 at Cultivate Yoga from 6-9pm. Instead of New Year’s resolutions, we’ll set intentions for how we want to navigate the year ahead. (See below for more info about this special event! )
May we release any resistance to the grand, Divine plan, and trust the perfect timing of the Universe.
"Let all things be done decently and in order." - I Corinthians 14:40
Be well,
Shannon
Runner up words for 2025:
- Clarity
- Prayer
- Ritual
Previous words from previous years:
- Grounded
- Simplicity